


Genius

by annaxmims



Series: Tumblr Prompts [99]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Bobby Nash is Evan "Buck" Buckley's Parent, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Smart Evan "Buck" Buckley, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26160091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaxmims/pseuds/annaxmims
Summary: Tumblr Prompt:Hen is studying hard for the Mcat and everyone tries to pitch in, but when Buck tries to help everyone is super dismissive, thinking he won’t get it. Buck tries to hide his hurt feelings but when everyone gets stumped by a particular question Buck answers it with ease. At the looks of disbelief he gets Buck just shrugs and reveals that he had a chance at med school before his dad almost beat him to death and he lost his chance. Buck is in no mood for apologies. Firefam better work for it
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Tumblr Prompts [99]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626286
Comments: 10
Kudos: 597
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales, Smart!Buck





	Genius

Contrary to popular belief, Evan Buckley was not stupid. Reckless and somewhat lacking in common sense? Yes. Dumb? No.

But somehow, no one had picked up on it. Granted, Buck never really clued them in on how smart he was. Being smart had caused nothing but trouble in the past, but he didn’t make an effort to hide it either. Time and time again his team dismissed him because they didn’t think he was smart enough. Honestly, he was getting sick of it.

“How is anyone supposed to know this crap?” Hen groaned, throwing down her pencil in defeat.

“What’s the question?” Eddie asked, leaning over her shoulder to get a better look.

“Something about the velocity of bullets and baselines. I have no idea. This is physics, not medicine.”

“Your time to shine GI Joe,” Chim laughed. “Show us what you’ve got.”   
Eddie scrunched his nose as he read the question, trying to sort out what it was asking.

“I’m out. Math is not my strong suit. Just pick C.”

“Why C?”

“I don’t know. I always picked C when I took the ACT and it worked.”

“I don’t know how accurate that is.”

“Well, then you look at it genius.”

Eddie reclaimed his spot next to Buck on the couch, bumping his boyfriend’s knee with his own.

“Hi,” Buck whispered, leaning his head on his shoulder.

“Hi,” Eddie snuck a soft kiss to his hair, pressing his cheek to the top of his head.

Buck liked days like this. Calls were few and far between and Bobby was in a meeting, so the four of them were relaxing upstairs. The TV was playing reruns of some show on a low volume but Buck had long ago tuned it out in favor of listening to Hen and Chim bicker.

“Let me see,” he said, squirming out of Eddie’s hold and approaching the table. 

“None of us could figure it out but give it your best shot Buckaroo,” Chim stepped aside.

Buck took a seat next to Hen, sliding the book closer and picked up her abandoned pencil.

He read the question twice before writing a few numbers on the side of the page and started working it out.

“Buck you don’t have to write random numbers to pretend like you know how to do it. Just admit you’re as lost as the rest of us.”

“Well Eddie you were right, it’s C.”   
“No way,” Chim scoffed.

“Check the answers.”

Hen flipped to the back of the book and scanned the pages.

“He’s right,” she turned it to show Chim. “It’s C.”

“How did you know that Buck?” Eddie asked.

“I’ve seen some of these before.”

“Why were you practicing MCAT questions?” Hen asked.

“I had a shot at med school before I joined. But I decided not to go. I’m smarter than you give me credit for.”

“No one ever said you were stupid Buck.”

“Yeah okay,” Buck scoffed. “At least once a week someone makes a jab at me for not being smart or not knowing something. I’m not stupid.”

“No one said you were,” Chim tried to placate him.

“Whatever,” Buck rolled his eyes and turned on his heel.

He felt like a child, running to hide in the bunk room, but he wanted to be away from them.

He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, picking at a loose thread on the comforter when there was a knock on the door.

“Go away,” he mumbled.

“It’s me,” Eddie leaned against the doorway. “I was just coming to check on you but I’ll go if you want.”

“No, you can stay.”

Eddie crossed the room to join him on the bed. Buck scooted over to make room for him, headbutting him affectionately.

“You never told me you had a shot at med school.”

“It was before I joined. Before I went to seal training actually. I was doing biology undergrad and a few schools reached out to me. My dad found out that I didn’t want to join the family business and he flew off the handle.”

“Did he hurt you?” 

“No not at first. At least not until I started mouthing off. Maybe I am as dumb as everyone thinks.”

“Hey,” Eddie gripped his chin firmly, forcing Buck to look him in the eye. “You are not dumb okay? I’ve seen how smart you are and it drives me crazy that you don’t ever show it.”

“Being smart was nothing but trouble for me. My dad got angry that I didn’t make quarterback but I won the science fair. He got mad that I was smart enough to be a doctor and I didn’t want to be a lawyer.”

“So why didn’t you take the chance? Why didn’t you go to med school?”

“When he found out, he was giving me the talk of a lifetime. And I lashed out and said some stuff I shouldn’t have. I was in the hospital with a concussion on the day of my interview.”

“I’m sorry Buck.”

“After that, I ran off to seal training. And I failed at that too.”

“You didn’t fail. You care about people too much to be a seal. That seems like a win to me.”

“I just wish they would give me some credit.”

“Do you want me to make them come down here and grovel?”

“No. I don’t want to hear them say what they think I want to hear.”

“Okay,” Eddie kissed the top of his head. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

When he made it back upstairs, Eddie proceeded to give them the verbal beatdown of a lifetime. After that, Hen and Chim started to be more mindful of how they treated Buck.

“What did you say to them?” Buck questioned a week later after he’d spent an hour quizzing Hen on MCAT questions. 

“Nothing you need to know. Just let me know if they say something when I’m not around.”

“Did you make them sign a contract or something?” Buck laughed.

“No nothing like that. I may or may not have told Bobby though.”

“You tattled to Dad,” Buck gasped.

“Hey it worked didn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess it did.”

“When it comes to you, it takes Bobby about five seconds to go ‘dad mode’. I might as well exploit it.”

“Whatever works.”


End file.
